Eatcation

Ok, so maybe from a culinary standpoint, I'd rather have been in Italy, but my recent vacation in Germany was very...filling, shall we say. My eyes were always bigger than my stomach, and most often I disappointed myself with my inability to clean my plate.

Let's start with breakfast. While staying at the charming Landhaus Sommerau I enjoyed German breakfasts of fresh breads, meats, cheeses and butter (oh the butter!) from happy alpine cows, fruit and yogurt. I love a sweet and savory breakfast! Then there were, of course, the little Nürnberger sausages that I ate in Stuttgart in a jet-lagged stupor my first day.

Vacation in Germany, obviously, included lots of beer. Firstly in the Biergarten zum Flaucher...along with pretzels, a board of obatzda, radishes and cucumbers and more chives than I've ever seen in one place before!

Moving on to the various incantations of pork that I consumed in Deutschland...

First night at the Landhaus Sommerau: pork chops, fried potato pancakes, green beans wrapped in bacon. Even the vegetarian at the table snuck a few out from under the bacon. There are two forms of pork on this plate!

Pork the next day on this cute little sandwich bite.

Please take note of how many servings of vegetables I included in the following meal...but don't be distracted from two kinds of wurst, two kinds of fish (smoked trout and poached ?) and potato salad.

Speaking of vegetables....the sauteed mushrooms and bacon made this salad feel anything but healthy.Traditional Allgäu wedding soup (dumplings in a beef broth with julienned vegetables)

There are many foods I enjoy more than cheese, but when in Switzerland, one must eat fondue, right? Luckily, I didn't have to commit to my own pot of hot, boozy cheese; that's what friends are for! Friends are also for reviving you after your hot boozy cheese turns into a cold lump somewhere between your mouth and your intestine and then sharing a hotel room with you while you digest!

Since I started with breakfast, I'll end with dessert. There were Magnum bars, flaming mounds of ice cream, chocolate mousse, black forest cake, and kaiserschmarrn ("the emperor's nonsense," caramelized pancakes served with applesauce.) I even brought home my own little bottle of emperor's nonsense liquor! (Thanks ELFW!)